Gordon Scott

Acting

Gordon Scott

Born 1926-08-03 · Portland, Oregon, USA

Gordon Scott was an American film and television actor known for his portrayal of the fictional character Tarzan in five films (and one compilation of three made-as-a-pilot television episodes) of the Tarzan film series from 1955 to 1960. Gordon Scott was the eleventh Tarzan, starting with Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle. He was "discovered" poolside, and offered "a seven-year contract, a loin cloth, and a new last name." "Due in part to his muscular frame and 6-foot-3-inch [1.91-metre] height, he was quickly signed to replace Lex Barker as Tarzan" by producer Sol Lesser. Lesser had Gordon change his name because "Werschkul" sounded too much like "Weismueller". Scott's Tarzan movies ranged from rather cheap re-edited television pilots to large-scale action films with high-production values shot on location in Africa. In his early Tarzan films, he played the character as unworldly and inarticulate, in the mold of Johnny Weissmuller, an earlier Tarzan portrayer. In Scott's later films, after a change in producers, he played a Tarzan who was educated and spoke perfect English, as in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs novels. Scott was the only actor to play Tarzan in both styles. Fearing he would become typecast as Tarzan, Scott moved to Italy and became a popular star in epics of the péplum genre (known in the United States as sword-and-sandal), featuring handsome bodybuilders as various characters from Greek and Roman myth. Scott was a friend of Steve Reeves, and collaborated with him as Remus to Reeves's Romulus in Duel of the Titans. Scott also played Hercules in a couple of international co-productions during the mid-1960s. As the péplum genre faded, Scott starred in spaghetti westerns and Eurospy films. His final film appearance was in The Tramplers (filmed in 1966; released in the United States in 1968).

Acting credits

The Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules poster
5.3

The rightful heir to the throne of Babylon leads a slave revolt against an evil ruler.

The Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules

1963

The Movie Orgy poster
6.8

Clips from assorted television programs, B-movies, commercials, music performances, newsreels, bloopers, satirical short films and promotional and government films of the 1950s and 1960s are intercut together to tell a single story of various creatures and societal ills attacking American cities.

The Movie Orgy

1968

Romulus and Remus poster
5.2

Twin brothers were raised by wolves, revolt against tyranny in pre-Roman Italy and then come to a parting of the ways as they lead their people toward the founding of a new city, the founders of Rome.

Romulus and Remus

1961

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure poster
5.4

The greatest adventure of jungle king Tarzan. Four British villains raid a settlement to obtain explosives for use in a diamond mine. In doing so they nearly destroy the settlement, so Tarzan pursues them to their mine.

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure

1959

Thunder of Battle poster
5.3

Coriolanus leads the plebians in a revolt against Roman oppression.

Thunder of Battle

1964

The Shortest Day poster
6.4

Two jerks are enlisted in the Italian army during W.W.1 and by pure luck manage to help win an important battle.

The Shortest Day

1963

The Lion of St. Mark poster
4.3

In 1620 pirates are terrorizing the Adriatic coast. Our hero sets out to defeat them.

The Lion of St. Mark

1963

Tarzan's Fight for Life poster
4.8

Dr. Sturdy is trying to establish a modern hospital in the jungle. His efforts are strongly opposed by Futa, the witch doctor, and Ramo, a native warrior.

Tarzan's Fight for Life

1958

Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti poster
9.0

A documentary on the history of Italy's peplum genre.

Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti

1977

Tarzan the Magnificent poster
5.9

After the Banton family rob a store is a small village and kill the local police constable, Tarzan captures one of them, Coy Banton. He decides to return him to the authorities so that the dead policeman's family will benefit from the $5000 reward. The head of the clan, Abel Banton and his two sons have no intention of letting Tarzan deliver Coy and burn the river boat they were to use. Several of the passengers are now stranded forcing Tarzan to take them along on a trek through the jungle. Abel Banton trails them intent not only getting his son back but getting rid of Tarzan.

Tarzan the Magnificent

1960

The Tramplers poster
6.4

After the war of secession, the aging Cordeen, who owns thousands of acres in Texas, rules his numerous and quarrelsome sons with an iron hand. He sends them out to deal with the threat of the representatives from the North. However, not all the sons share their father's unlimited hatred for the Northerners and they find it increasingly difficult to obey his despotic commands. To add to the family's unrest, a prodigal son decides to return to the fold, provoking two other sons to down tools and leave. Cordeen, outraged, pursues them and tries to kill them. An absurd family feud ensues, prolonged by the participation of the entire Cordeen family.

The Tramplers

1965

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle poster
5.3

Hunters trespass into Sukulu country, where animals are sacred, posing as photographers.

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle

1955

Danger!! Death Ray poster
3.1

Secret Agent Bart Fargo chases the kidnappers of the inventor of a death ray.

Danger!! Death Ray

1967

Zorro and the Three Musketeers poster
6.0

In the first half of the 1600's, France is at war with Spain. The cousin of the king of Spain, Isabella, is held captive in the French castle, and the Count of Seville is sent to France as a diplomat. While there, he is escorted by the Three Musketeers, who discover that he has secretly made a deal with Cardinal Richelieu to disclose Spanish military secrets in exchange for Isabella's release. However, he is merely bluffing and plans to take Isabella by force. When the musketeers discover this, they come to his aid, and together the four of them work at freeing the Countess. Meanwhile, the Count doubles as Zorro to free the Spanish court from a treacherous suitor.

Zorro and the Three Musketeers

1963

Women in Cell Block 7 poster
4.8

A woman goes behind bars in order to save her father's life.

Women in Cell Block 7

1973

A Queen for Caesar poster
5.4

Story of the power struggle between Egyptian queen Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy, and how a common soldier risks his life to serve her.

A Queen for Caesar

1962

Tarzan and the Lost Safari poster
5.4

Tarzan leads five passengers from a downed airplane out of the jungle. En route white hunter Hawkins tries to sell them to the Oparian chief.

Tarzan and the Lost Safari

1957

Kerim, Son of the Sheik poster
6.0

In the Middle East, circa 1860s, the evil Omar seeks to become Khadive by killing off his adversaries and by marrying the reluctant Fawzia, favorite niece of the current Khadive. Omar's brutal policies result in the death of a young woman named Laila. Laila's brother, Kerim, then becomes Omar's sworn enemy.

Kerim, Son of the Sheik

1962

Tarzan and the Trappers poster
4.2

Tarzan goes up against a baddie by the name of Schroeder, who is trapping animals and selling them illegally to zoos. A twist is thrown into the plot when Schroeder's brother, with the help of money-hungry trader Lapin, hunts a different kind of quarry, human game. Now Tarzan must not only fight to save the animals of the jungle, but he must also save himself. Three episodes of a failed TV series edited for theater release.

Tarzan and the Trappers

1958

Gladiator of Rome poster
5.7

A warrior protecting a slave girl, who is really a princess, winds up as a gladiator in the Roman arenas.

Gladiator of Rome

1962

Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West poster
5.4

Colonel William Cody, alias Buffalo Bill, intends to put an end to the dishonest relations between a gang of white swindlers and the Indian, Yellow Hand. So he goes to the chief of Yellow Hand's tribe, Wise Fox, and tries to convince him to sign a peace treaty with the Federal troops. In order to avoid this, Yellow Hand abducts Wise Fox's daughter, pretending that the soldiers have done it.

Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West

1964

Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World poster
6.3

Samson must rescue a beautiful Chinese princess from a marauding horde of warriors.

Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World

1961

Goliath and the Vampires poster
6.3

Maciste's village is attacked by pirates. The women, including Maciste's fiancee Guja, are carried off to Salmanak, where dwells the lair of the blood drinking Kobrak. Maciste vows to rescue them.

Goliath and the Vampires

1961

Top Secret poster
7.0

A man escapes from a Russian prison and then from a United States embassy, taking with him some very important top secret information from both sides.

Top Secret

1967

Behind the camera